On the battlefield, as if by magic, the armor of all the millions of dwarves began to shine brightly. The runes that held the metal parts together were now filled with energy, and in the center of their chests, a grayish rune had transformed into the core of their armor.
The dwarves were bewildered, until a sneaky enemy appeared behind one of them. This dwarf’s armor was extremely worn out and dented, a target on the brink of death, with no one around to save him.
However, just as a blade was about to strike him from behind, the sharp sound of metal clashing against a steel wall echoed. Simultaneously, all the millions of dwarves felt a slight scratch on their backs.
The attacked dwarf turned to the enemy and, with a gigantic hammer in his hands, swung it swiftly.
*BOOM!*
A violent sound made the sky and earth shake, reverberating across the planet. The enemy was instantly turned into a bloody mist. The power of the enemy, which had once driven them to despair, now seemed like it had all been an illusion.
The dwarf who delivered the blow widened his eyes, as did all the others. They too felt a tiny bit of their energy being drained from their armor.
"All the armor is now one." The whale’s calm but powerful voice echoed to everyone, who listened, stunned. "Attack with everything you’ve got; any damage you take will be shared among all the armor. And every hit you land will be amplified by all your allies."
The enemies heard the same thing and were just as bewildered. This new Dao was specifically designed to connect the armor, and even Alm and Bruno got excited.
The defense and regeneration of each piece of armor were already naturally high, even for those who didn’t focus on defense. Now, with the damage shared among everyone, it was practically impossible to kill a dwarf as long as they had Qi to share among themselves.
The army that was already terrifying transformed into something almost invincible. After all, the armor had hundreds of runes; in the future, adding storage rune seals to hold much more Qi was a simple task. If prepared correctly, with one part focused entirely on supplying Qi and the other on firepower, what army in the world could beat them?
And that’s not even counting the shared attack power; suddenly, a single person could possess unimaginable destructive power.
"KILL!"
The dwarves roared and attacked the enemies frantically, completely turning the battle around.
Zaimo stood high above. The only way to break this Dao was to take him out, but there was no clear indication that he was the one causing it. This connection among the allies didn’t rely on his cultivation, but Alm and Bruno knew that a hero would feel Zaimo’s Dao and target him directly; it was obvious this was dangerous, especially if he was too weak.
The whale watched the fight. The enemies were thrown back, unable to react. They kept using all their resources on the statue, but a third of them perished without any chance.
The strongest, however, held their ground; with the armor’s support, their Qi seemed almost infinite, and they managed to avoid direct death.
Alm and Bruno looked at the statue, feeling it weaken little by little... blood tears almost welled up in their eyes... there was no way to win this battle before the enemy’s resources ran out.
’I knew we should’ve stolen that hammer, this is your fault,’ Alm mentally growled.
’Maybe they’d have allowed it, but their trust in us would’ve been shaken.’ Bruno sighed. ’A human shows up out of nowhere claiming to be the Forge God and takes the greatest treasures left behind... the dwarves who were in the forge with Zaimo might have had some trust in us, but that wouldn’t have represented even 10% of the dwarf population. Not to mention that even those who studied in the forge, without seeing firsthand that this armor really works, wouldn’t have fully trusted us.’
Alm snorted but didn’t argue. The dwarves were practical and only believed in what they could see and prove. Taking the hammer without their trust could have backfired. The Forge God himself knew this and set everything up so that the dwarves would trust him.
Minutes flew by, and almost two-thirds of the enemies had been wiped out. However, the remaining ones showed impressive resistance.
With the number of enemies dwindling, all the statue’s support was focused on these last fighters, including the leader of the God of Wealth’s followers, who was now engaged in the fight.
After several minutes, the statue’s energy source finally ran out completely. Then, in just ten seconds, the remaining enemies dropped like flies.
Although these weren’t all the God of Wealth’s followers in the universe, from today on, that false god would cease to exist. Alm and Bruno, with just a glance, understood the truth: since this god wasn’t real, the power of his followers came from a core contained within the statue. Once they destroyed the core, it would all be over, and those followers scattered across the universe would become aimless wanderers.
"GOD OF WEALTH! SAVE YOUR SERVANTS! NO!"
The leader was the last to fall, letting out a final cry of despair. But there was no one to hear his plea for help.
The whale moved slowly toward the statue, analyzing it calmly. It was made of an unknown material, incredibly tough and heavy.
They didn’t have the energy or anything to destroy it, so the whale turned to Thea. "Try to destroy its heart, where the core is."
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They pointed out the spot, and Thea nodded. Quickly, Zaimo’s connector rune appeared on her chest. All the armor could connect with Zaimo’s Dao, and Thea, having a similar body structure, was able to link up with them without any issues.
Although the dwarves were incredibly powerful, if Thea used everyone’s Qi, her destructive power with one of her internal runes would be much greater than theirs.
Focusing, Thea opened a cannon in her chest.
BANG!
A one-meter-wide hole appeared right where they had indicated. Immediately, a smell of blood filled the entire planet.
It was done. Within seconds, all the statue’s energy dissipated completely. This was the definitive death of the God of Wealth.
Alm and Bruno stored the statue in their inventory; its material would be useful very soon. With the leader dead, they definitely took his spatial ring, which contained the key to access all areas of the base. Then they moved, along with all the dwarves, toward the underground.
The place wasn’t large, about the size of a small town. The whale examined the treasures there, and unsurprisingly, there was almost nothing of value to take. Next, they found a library containing many different Jade Slips.
Most of the techniques were of a macabre nature; even the assassins’ techniques involved blood and life refinement to manipulate Yin. Without hesitation, Bruno destroyed everything completely.
Finally, the only thing of value they found was at the deepest point, surrounded by numerous formations.
Upon entering, they saw a round crystal two meters in diameter, floating and surrounded by runes. It seemed hollow, and inside there was a strange liquid.
After calmly analyzing the interior, they realized that the liquid was actually formed by tiny runes. The crystal itself was only halfway full.
’This must be the ’divinity’ that the Forge God had them steal,’ Alm commented dryly. They had no idea what to do with it, but it would certainly be useful in the future.
The dwarves also searched the entire place but found nothing of value or interest. Within an hour, everyone was out, and the underground was completely destroyed.
The other dwarves stayed outside and collected all the spatial rings and weapons from the dead enemies. ’They were followers of the god of wealth, so there were a decent amount of resources with each one,’ Bruno said, trying to comfort himself with these gains.
The whale moved calmly upward, returning through the spatial channel that had remained open the entire time. All the dwarves followed him in silence until they found themselves back in space, where the convention had ended just over an hour ago.
The whale waved, collecting all the formations and completely closing the spatial channel. At that moment, he turned around and saw that absolutely everyone was standing still, watching him; no one had left.
Bruno sighed: ’I think we went a bit overboard... this time, we didn’t even try to be discreet. Next time, let’s try to draw as much attention as possible; maybe the opposite will happen.’